I'm a little lost, so sorry if I make a mistake.
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The Bulk Freighter Happy Hacker goes through a few jump links and then lands on Turin. Riprock and Rogan meet Rendar on Turin and go towards the shipyard to look for someone Render was just talking about.
"So you're sure he's here?" Riprock asked.
"Yup, I'm pretty sure. He's usually here fixing up Rebel warships, even though he ain't exactly in the Rebel Navy. He's kind of a mercenary, doing anything anti-Confed or pro-Rebel. He should be in one of these docking bays," Render replied.
Rogan goes to the left, Riprock and Rendar went to the right. Suddenly, Riprock saw a hover-forklift carring what looked like a combination of a neutron blaster and proton cannon go into one of the docking bays. "He'll be in there then," Rendar said, pointing to the bay where the hover-forklift went.
As they entered, Riprock saw a Rebel Destroyer with its nose dismantled sitting in the docking bay. The Captain was talking with another engineer, apparently nagotiating the price. Riprock saw the neutron blaster/proton cannon (which was massive) being loaded into the nose of the Rebel destroyer. Workers then proceeded to hook it up to the destroyer.
The Captain and Lead Engineer stopped talking, the Captain going back to oversee the installation, the engineer (with a bunch of credit sticks) began to walk over to a hovercar parked nearby.
"Hey! Hey Rick!" Render called out to him.
The engineer spun around. "Hey Rendar! Haven't seen ya in a while! Whose this?"
Rendar turned to Riprock. "Rick, this is Dash Riprock. Riprock, this is "Rick the Tick", an ex-pirate."
Riprock suddenly remembered the name. "Rick the Tick! Never thought I'd meet you!". Rick the Tick was an infamous Pirate who had devastated the world of New Japan (I think I got the name right). He had been the Confeds worst nightmare. Confed patrols couldn't find him. Fleets couldn't stop him. When they had him cornered, he always managed to escape. Some people thought he had a cloaking device. They were right. Riprock was one of the few people who knew Rick the Tick had made his own cloaking device and used it to evade the Confeds. Ricks reign of terror ended when the Confeds managed to annihilate one of his fleets, and Rick began to work as an anti-Confed, pro-Rebel mercenary.
"I've known Rick for years. He's known for being able to create new types of weapons to fit every persons needs," Rendar said.
"Yeah," Rick replied. "Right now I'm loadin up that Proton blaster into that Rebel destroyer. Captain said he wanted a heavy dutey proton cannon, so I hooked up a proton generator and matrix to a neutron blaster assembelly. Works pretty nice. Not as strong as a neutron blaster, but better range. What ya want me to do today?"
"We need a weapon good enough to fit on anything about the size of a Rebel destroyer, but strong enough to be able to take out a Confed cruiser relatively easily," Riprock replied.
"Hmmmmmmmm....Well, I don't usually give people these, but I got an anti-neutron particle beam. Even the Confeds and Rebels haven't got technology this high tech. It's expensive, but good. I can fit it on a Corvette and up, but you'll need a special generator to use it. It'll take out a Confed cruiser for ya. Need it to kill Malcom?"
Riprock and Rendar were stunned. How'd Rick know that? "How'd you know that?" Rendar asked.
"Simple: Eleven guys, including this one guy that had a bear costum hat, came before you looking for big guns to kill Malcom with. I gave them this and that, but not the beam I'm offering you. Seems Malcom has a reputation, but not a good one."
Rendar looked surprised, and then Riprock asked the major question: "How much do you want and how fast can you get it in?"
"Cost: 5 million credits. Time: 6 hours. Fair enough?"
"Fair," Rendar replied and gave Rick the credits.
"I hope I'll be able to tell you too apart by name, you're both Ricks!" Riprock said.
"Don't worry. Just call me Rendar," Rendar replied.
"Good, now lets go!"
After joining up with Rogan, the group went to get a ship. They decided on a Corvette, and within 6 hours Rick had the anti-neutron particle beam installed along with the special generator. As Rick went back to work, the rest of them boarded the new Corvette, which they called the Tremor. Now, they were ready to nail Malcom once and for all...
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To Escape Velocity: Nova and Beyond!
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Millennium. Its coming, prepare for it.
Coming to the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiaSW.com/games/ev/chronicles.html")EV Chronicles(/url).
(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 12-09-2000).)